The new high-end steakhouse offers a dining experience its owners hope both tourists and Torontonians can appreciate

In 2014, Liberty Entertainment Group was awarded a 20-year-lease to take over operations of Casa Loma. One of the objectives of the newly opened restaurant, BlueBlood, pictured on Nov. 9, is to make the heritage site one of the city’s most prolific.

PHVisiting CasaLoma, the venerable Gothic revivalist landmark that straddles the border of Toronto's downtown and midtown like a looming grey-brick sentinel, its 6,000 square metres were abuzz with activity on a chilly fall evening. The southwest garden entrance attracts a cluster of teenagers waiting for the gates to open on the Legends Of Horror haunted house attraction, while the main entrance hosts groups entering or exiting one of the property's three "escape room" attractions. Amid the confusion of so many doors leading to so many different live-action puzzle boxes and chambers of horror, and the general anxiety of darkening the doorstep of an enormous castle, a valet parking attendant in a tuque proves helpful, asking, "Here for the steakhouse?"

The steakhouse is BlueBlood, a newly opened upscale dining establishment inside CasaLoma that attempts to make a virtue of its garish opulence. As a restaurant concept, BlueBlood is bizarre, confounding, sometimes even a bit annoying. But it's a project years in the making.